


The Devil's Own Claw

by CureMoose



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: F/F, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 22:16:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13222341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CureMoose/pseuds/CureMoose
Summary: The life of a fallen angel is not only darkness and a rage against the heavens. Sometimes, it involves outrageous and degrading favors, but when has Yohane ever managed to say "no" to the demons in her life?





	The Devil's Own Claw

Her phone brought her diabolic tidings of a grand conjuring, a calling writ on the very bones of the earth, on the ether that surrounded everything. As the phone vibrated, Yohane took hold of it with pomp, and saw that the messengers of Perdition brought her an intimation from Mari. Eager, Yohane’s index drew the profane symbols that unlocked her phone and the secrets within it, and Mari’s invocation:

_ hey bitch come here rn i need help with smth _

Hell appeared to be losing its sense of gravitas. Yohane jumped out of bed, and considered if she should answer the call or not. On one hand, it didn’t seem to be important. On the other hand, she wasn’t doing anything right now anyways. On the  _ other  _ other hand, she  _ should _ be doing homework right now. Then again, it was Mari. Hanging out with Mari was better than homework. She typed her response.

_ I’ll follow the dark winds to your home, then. Raven wings will guide me forth and I shall be there in no time. Also, don’t call me  _ bitch _. _

Mari’s response came at once.

_ ok sorry yoshiko _

Hellfire surged inside Yohane’s scourged heart. She felt herself searing inside, and the darkness growing. This sort of treatment was not something she was willing to tolerate.

_ Don’t call me Yoshiko either. _

_ ok _

She sighed. Some people just didn’t take the dark side as seriously as they should. When she met Mari, she’d have to lecture her about how everlasting torment and the wrath of the fallen angels were not forces to be messed with.

Yohane left her home to find a dreaded sunny day. The cloudless sky gave no respite from the heat, and Yohane felt her skin burn. This wasn’t the sort of fire she liked; sunfire came from the celestial planes, from the heavens that cast her out, so of course it hurt her so much. Her skin was already red by the time she was halfway to Mari’s manor, and what could that be but a sign of heaven’s wrath against her?

That foolish Hanamaru once told her that they were just sunburns and she should take care of herself. But she was wrong, of course. This was just what a fallen angel had to bear.

It wasn’t usually this hot, though. Today it felt like the damn pavement was melting, and it gave Uchiura a rather repugnant smell. It was fortunate, then, that Mari’s home was rather isolated from the rest of town, and far from the stench.

Mari greeted her with a smile and a peck on the cheek. Yohane admired how daring she was to lay her lips upon the skin of a fallen angel, as if tasting the forbidden fruit… She always found herself smiling and blushing whenever Mari kissed her. When she asked what it was that Mari needed help with, she was infuriatingly reticent about it. She took Yohane by the hand and guided her through the unbearably tacky manor, towards the basement. The basement itself seemed to be larger than Yohane’s own house, and it was filled to the brim with trinkets and stuff that seemed like nothing more than trash to her, but that Mari swore were useful, important, and valuable. And at last she displayed, dramatically, both of her arms raised, a claw machine like the ones you find in arcades. It was a huge, hideous thing, all pink and glittering lights like a neon nightmare. For whatever reason, Mari looked extremely proud of it.

“The fuck is this?” Yohane asked.

“It’s a claw machine!” Mari answered with a smile. “I got it from an arcade I visited the past weekend, when I went out.”

“You… Bought it?” Mari grinned. “Why?”

“Look,” Mari rubbed her nose right against the glass, then pointed at the stuffed toys inside. There were so many of them that Yohane had no idea which one she was trying to show her. “It’s so cute, isn’t it? That bear there, the one with the frown on his face, and the runny nose. He’s making devil horns with his right hand, look at it!”

“That thing’s not cute,” Yohane said. “Looks like someone beat the shit out of it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not  _ traditionally  _ cute. He’s an ugly bastard, but he’s kinda cute in his own way. His ugly way. Look, he’s really charming, and he needed a home.”

“I still don’t understand  _ why _ you had to buy the whole damn thing, though. Why not just get only the bear?”

“I couldn’t get him!” Mari whined. “I kept trying, again and again and again, putting all my tokens into the machine, but I never got anything, just the shitty consolation prizes.  And I wanted him. I wanted that bear. I got so mad that I just bought the whole machine. And when I brought it back home, I realized I don’t have the slightest idea how to open it.”

“So… You mean…”

“Yeah. I need help here.”

“Why  _ my  _ help? I’m not good at this game. God has cursed me to never get what I want from claw machines.”

“That’s exactly why I called you here!” Mari took her hands, and held them close to her chest. “You lamented, once, how you always get the ugliest stuffed animals from these machines. And that bear,” she pointed at it again, “that guy over there is so ugly not even his mother would be able to love him, if he had one. You’ll get him, I’m sure of it. You’ll do it for me, right?”

“Fine,” Yohane said. It made Mari beam, smiling so wide even Yohane was shocked. “But you owe me one.”

“Thanks, Yoshik- Yohane! I love you so much. No one else would have come to help me. Kanan might have helped me, but she’d call me a moron, which is still better than Dia, who would call me a moron  _ and  _ tell me not to bother her.”

“They’re your best friends?”

“Oh, shush. Here,” she gave Yohane a handful of tokens. “The good thing is that I get the tokens back after they’re used, so they won’t run out.”

That was some comfort. Yohane positioned herself, then cracked her knuckles. She drew in the air with the tips of her fingers some forbidden symbols of power. Then she got to work.

The claw came down, quickly, and took hold of a toy right next to the bear; a weird-looking purple blob with the horns and tail of a devil. Yohane loved it. The little guy was smirking, and there was evil in his plushy eyes.

“Huh,” Mari remarked. “You got the one that’s right for you.”

“I told you I’m cursed not to get the one I want. Cute as this guy is,” she said, picking it up, “it was the bear I was trying to get. It is a most vile plague. I only get things when I no longer need them, or have no interest. But when I do, they elude me. It is a vexing affliction, a curse like the one that brought down the walls of Jericho, except it has brought down the pure dreams I once had-”

“I think you should keep going,” Mari said. Yohane did as was asked of her.

The claw came down again. It held on to a dog now, a big fuzzy one, by far the largest of the toys there. Yohane sighed. She tried again, and got a cat. Mari sighed. The next attempt brought her a weird smiley face that was ugly as sin, but not quite as hideous as the bear, who was ugly as damnation. Mari groaned. Then she whined. Then she began to walk in circles as Yohane continued to try to get the bear. One by one she freed the little things from the glass that encased them, but the bear stayed there, its ugly mug taunting her.

Yohane only managed to get it when it was the last one remaining. By then over an hour had passed, and Mari was lazily sprawled over all the stuffed toys tossed on the floor. When Yohane showed her the bear, Mari let out a scream of joy and hugged Yohane so tight and so suddenly that they nearly fell down together. Mari kissed her a dozen times, and only stopped when Yohane told her to stop, that a fallen angel was not be irresponsibly smooched. Mari chortled, but let go of Yohane.

“You can have this,” Mari handed her the little demon, and it was even cuter from up close than Yohane had expected. She was happy to have it. It was not quite as adorable and loyal as her utmost little demon, Ruby, but he was a worthy soldier. “Can you help me here, though?” She pointed at the mess on the floor.

“Ah, sure,” said Yohane. Promptly she began to pick up the stuffed toys, and placed them on a shelf that Mari indicated.

When all the stuffed animals had been properly put in place, Yohane held her little devil, while Mari gave her ugly bear a kiss on the forehead. Then, she took one of the dogs.

“What’s that one for?” Yohane asked.

“Oh,” Mari said with a smile as diabolic as that of fallen Lucifer proclaiming his embrace of evil. “It’s for a friend of ours. Our dear Riko,” she looked straight into the dog’s face, and cackled. “Come on, my sweet fallen angel. Let’s fuck her up.”


End file.
